In the Congress

We arrive at Comet Ping-Pong, which Jenny and Sam swear have the best pizza anywhere, and are walked to the very back of the restaurant. 

“The pizza’s are huge,” Sam explains to my confused look at the one menu. “Trust me, you don’t want a whole pie to yourself.” I shrug, because they’ve been here before and I haven’t. Also, I’m pretty sure these guys won’t try to kill me the first day of my internship.

”I should have asked before we got here,” Jenny smacks her forehead before looking at me. “Do you have and aversion or allergy to gluten? Dairy? Because we can go somewhere else if that-”

“No, I’m good.” I pat her hand in the most comforting way you can with double layered leather gloves. “I eat anything that doesn’t try to eat me first.”

“You don’t look it,” Sam comments. “You look like you only ingest water and veggies.”

“Yoga,” I inform her. “Also, no one in my family is bigger than a size six, so…” I trail off, grabbing the menu to see what my options are. “Is there an Alfredo pizza?”

“The Spring Chick is the closest thing they have, I think,” Sam offers, pointing it out.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had that,” Jenny wonders as the waiter makes her way back to us. She orders the pizza and requests to keep the menu as I shoot a quick text to everyone saying that I made it and that I’m eating right now. I put my phone back in my pocket and look around the table. Jenny is scrolling on her phone screen. I look over at Sam to see her apparently trying to drill holes in my head.

“So,” she starts, glancing around to make sure that no one was within earshot. “I saw your face when you noticed that you touched me. You still have it on your face now. So what’s up?” I shuffle a bit, unsure of whether I should tell her. I look over at Jenny who also eyed me curiously.

“Well,as you know, from those around me I knew that skin to skin contact for me held more significance than for anyone else.” I look up to see them leaning in to hear me better. I wring my hands and continue “I’m just afraid of your reaction when it fully sets in.”

“When what finally sets  in?” Jenny interjects. “It took me a few minutes to acclimate to what happened. But then I got over it.” 

“Yeah, I mean it’s shocking but not completely out out of the realm of understanding.” I shake my head at both of them.

“These powers can turn someone evil,” I insist. “I’ve seen it. Trust me, it isn’t all good.” At that point our drinks arrive.

“I mean, I guessed that,” Sam continues once the waiter is out of earshot. “But, I mean your Jesus. Surely your powers can heal even the most disgusting heart.”

“It doesn’t necessarily work like that,” I correct her. I don’t want to talk about it anymore but I feel compelled to warn her. “I bring forth what’s in a person’s heart. Good or bad.” With that statement, a heaviness falls on the us. Sam doesn’t ask anymore questions and Jenny seems to be focused on her phone again. We don’t talk until our pizza arrives, when we say our thank yous and dig in.

#*#*#

“It can be a lot to take in at first,” Sam offers and we pull up a block away from the capital building.

“We’re gonna walk from here,” Jenny announces as the car stops. “Eric’s gonna take your bags to the hotel, Jes. So, when you get there your stuff should already be there.” We exit the car and start walking towards the Capitol building. “So, I know I explained this, but the way this internship works is that I work with you to pinpoint where your activism can influence policy change. That means that you wouldn’t necessarily be working with me on everything you do-”

“Most of the congresspeople that work with the her are decent enough,” Sam adds.

“Most?”

“Senator Berger is a bit of a douche canoe-” her shrug is cut off by a shriek in front of her.

“SAMANTHA!” Jenny’s eyes are bulging out of her skull. Sam just shrugs again, and mouths that it’s true. “Besides, Berger is checked by the other members of Congress as well as members of the committee.”

“What committee?”

“Ethics.” Sam rolls her eyes and leans in. “The fact that that guy has the gall to say he’s ethically sound on anything is just-”

“Sam!” Sam just shakes her head at Jenny. “Topher isn’t that bad, c’mon.”

“I didn’t say anything about Senator Dunn,” Sam’s eyes widen innocently. “To be far, not everyone in the Senate is evil. Dunn, Reed, and Gael are all decent people. But, none of them are in the Ethics committee.” Sam turned back to me. “The House has a much more believable ethics committee. It run by Sinclair Jackson-”

“The Representative that did the SlutWalk in L.A.?” For some unknown reason, I imagined the silver haired Representative in a teddy and thigh high leather boots, like what she wore at the march.

“She’s also an esteemed civil rights leader,” Jenny says, dejected.

“Yeah, with a killer bod,” Sam nudges me and giggles. We almost run into Jenny who is now standing at the base of the Capitol steps, arms crossed and her face set into a scowl that resembled the one I saw at the Airport.

“Sinclair Jackson is a dear colleague of mine,” she forced through gritted teeth. Sam and I share a look that said What exactly is her deal? “She’s an intelligent fierce woman who does not deserve to be slut-shamed!” Jenny’s voice rose a bit in the end, causing Sam and I to sway back a bit. We remain quiet for a little bit and Jenny, satisfied with our silence, continued to walk up the stairs.

“You know,” Sam offers , tugging me behind her after Jenny. “Smart and sexy aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Yeah,” I chime in. “Just because she stripped down to nothing for a cause doesn’t mean that she isn’t an intelligent woman.” We make a sharp left once we are in the building, scuttle quickly past reporters and tourists alike in relative silence.

“Well,” Jenny hesitates, as if she’s trying to measure her words. “Just don’t say anything about it to her face,” she concedes.

“She doesn’t care if you mention it-” Sam whispers to me.

“SAM!”

“She actually enjoys it.”

“Ugh,” Jenny slams her hand to her face in complete exasperation. We continue to walk down a corridor. “Anyway, there are a few policy things that we need to go over in my office before you are introduce to the other Congress members that I work with.” She stops in front of a door with her name embossed on the front.

“There isn’t much that we have to go over, honestly-” Sam is cut off by the door in front of us swinging open. Jenny leads us into a fairly small and crowded room. You could tell that someone tried to make the most of it; a couple of couches placed against a decorated wall. Sam leads me over to the couch and sits down, prompting me to sit down. Jenny riffles through her desk as I look around. The pictures on the walls were all of Jenny and other people. On the fireplace across from the couch they were sitting on, there was a bronze bust of MLK, a sailboat, a copy of The New Jim Crow, and another bust or Sinclair Jackson.  Flanking the fireplace was an Irish flag and a Great Britain flag. There’s a small coffee table that has seen better days in between the couch and the fireplace and a scruffy armchair almost right in front of the door.

“Found them!” Sam and I both jump at Jenny’s exclamation. She walks over to us and we hear a knock at the door. “I knew you would darken my door at an inconvenient time.” A slow, bright smile stretches across her face, as she takes two steps into the office. 

“I like to keep you on your toes,” she comments in Jenny’s direction before turning to Sam and I. “I don’t think I’ve met you, Sinclair Jackson. U.S. Representative of California.” At this point we’re shaking hands. “You’re beard’s a little patchy.” I just kept shaking her hand and nodding my head. I‘m not even thinking that this could even be an insult, but to be insulted by this woman was the same thing as being insulted be Meryl Streep: I’m taking it because it means that she saw me! Too soon, Mrs. Jackson lets go of my hand and turns towards Jenny. “You haven’t been answering my calls.”

“What calls?” Jenny pulls out her cell phone to check any missed calls.

“I called your office,” Rep. Jackson tells her. “But you just let it-”

“I haven’t been in the office at all today,” Jenny confesses, and nods her head in my direction. “I had to pick up that one up from the airport-”

“So did you see who Berger showed up with today?” Jenny’s eyes widened and then she leaps out of her chair. She thrusts a packet into my hands and almost runs down Mrs. Jackson on her way out.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Mrs. Jackson shrugs and heads towards the door. In an instant Jenny’s face was around the edge of the door again.

“Sam, can you go over the Indivisible files with Jes?” Before Sam could respond, she vanishes again, Representative Jackson right behind her. 

“What was that about?” I ask, turning back to Sam, who’s huddled over the packet that Jenny gave her.

“Oh, uh, Senator Berger proposed legislature that would raise the national minimum wage to something liable-”

“That’s great! Why-”

“Some of the provisions defund public assistance.” Something about the look on my face encourages her to continue. “They’ve been doing this for a while, trying to make opposing Senators look bad.” She shrugs. “They did the same thing with health care reform. Put in a provision allowing the privatization of Native American lands.” She is now facing me cross-leg on the couch, her shoulders square. “That’s why I did this. I sent a letter to Jenny, asking if I could get the name of all the Senators that signed it. I sent them each copies of treaties on each treaties anniversary. Jenny got so many complaints that she sent a staffer to seek me out. The first time I was here, I took a picture with each senator, posted it, and then kept up with them, periodically reposting the picture to remind of their promise.” She beams at me. “Some considered it legislative blackmail.”

“And what’d you do for this visit?”

“I sent howlers.” That is genius. “According to Jenny, it took staffers a good two and a half weeks to find them all and destroy them. I think they hate me now.” Sam’s eyes became unfocused for a moment before she looks back at the packet. “Okay, so the program’s aim is to-” there was a knock on the door again and I turned to see a guy standing awkwardly in the doorway. He was tall, tan with a fade, and wore a well tailored suit.

“Hey-hey Sam,” the man clears the lump in his throat. “I thought that Senator Prova would be here.”

“She’s with Rep. Jackson dealing with the racist pumpkin.” Sam looks back down at the packet in her hand. “What’s up? And where’s your friend, Dunn? Oh, by the way, Jes,” she gestures to me before absentmindedly pointing at the doorway. “This is Senator Matt Reeds of Jersey. Senator Reeds, Jes De La Cruz, new intern.” The man makes his way towards the couch.

“It’s nice to meet you Jes,” he says kindly. “And I told you to just call me Matt.” The sternness in his voice didn’t really match his face. He then slumped down into one of the chairs next to us with a sort of defeated sigh. “Topher was visited by Bay Creek Ministries while he was on vacation. And they had Senator Voldemort with them.” He turns to us then. “I need a drink.” I look at Sam, who had lost a lot of color in her face and looks to be near tears.

“Bay Creek is a Christian lobby group who is looking to get rid of Planned Parenthood and replace it with community care centers,” Sam relays in a whisper as Senator Matt Reeds looks for something strong to drink. “There’s one right off the reservation. They specialize in “accidental sterilization”. I bunch of people go their for preventative care or prenatal care, but most of them find out later on that something was done to them and they can’t really point out what happened. I need a drink too.” Sam jumps up and helps Reeds in his search. I stand, searching the room for any liquid and spotting a decanter on Jenny’s desk. Smelling that is was water, I take my gloves off and hold the bottle. Within seconds the contents in the bottle went from clear to amber. 

“Here you go,” I call to them, placing the tray on the coffee table just as Jenny returned.

“I need a drink,” she exclaims, sinking into the same chair Matt vacated. She noticed the decanter in front of her. Sam and Matt join us around the small coffee table. Matt pours himself a healthy cup while both he and Jenny gave Sam a disapproving look as she pour herself a sip. Simultaneously, they take a sip and groan in appreciation. “Where’s you guys find this?” She asks. “The only thing I had in this office was water.”